‘Pillering’ Women

Webster tells us that the transitive verb "pillar" means “to provide or strengthen with or as if with pillars.” At the opposite end, we find those who “piller” women – that is, they weaken them by prescribing chemicals to ingest that will eventually damage them physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. To make matters even worse, many medical practitioners do so with impunity.

Indeed, the birth control pill is a recreational drug with serious side effects. The most recent example of this is the story of Patti Kelly of Austin, Texas, who

was in a hospital bed this time last week, unsure if she'd make it out alive. In one day, her health plummeted.

"I woke up last Thursday morning with shortness of breath. I actually tried to work out that morning, and I had to stop because I could not breathe. Then, I actually coughed up a little blood so that was alarming, but being 28 and healthy, I just didn't really think much of it,” she said.

But the pain got worse and at the urging of her mom, who is a nurse, she checked herself into the emergency room. A CAT scan revealed blood clots in her lungs.

"When I was in the ER they came in and said you have multiple in both lungs and that was shocking. It wasn't just like I had one. I had multiple. I said ‘Well, how many is multiple?’ and he said, ‘I can't really count them.’ He told me if I did not come to the emergency room when I did, I could've died instantly,” she said.

It wasn't until that moment that Patti learned she was genetically predisposed to the condition. Her mom also survived a blood clot earlier in her life. It just wasn't anything they talked about.

"The doctor said that could've been a factor but the birth control is definitely a big factor,” she said.

Blood clots have been a known side effect of the birth control pill for many years now, and the anecdotal evidence is mounting, not to mention clinical studies that have tied the pill to the same side effect.

As Marie Hahnenberg, director of American Life League’s The Pill Kills project, said when asked about the Kelly case, “We are constantly hearing about problems that stem from the dangerous drugs used in hormonal contraception. Women have been told for years that the birth control pill is the answer to their medical complications, when it is only causing more problems – even death.”

Further, this is not only the opinion of pro-life organizations such as American Life League. There are other Christian organizations that have provided documentation on these side effects of the pill as well, including QuiverFull and One More Soul.

A very good example of secular news agencies' selective reporting is the study on hardening of the arteries that was conducted in Belgium a year ago. LifeSiteNews.com reported,

Researchers at the University of Ghent, conducting a long-term study on 1,300 healthy women aged 35 to 55 living in a small town in Belgium, have observed that those women who take oral contraceptives may have more plaque (a hard, fatty deposit) buildup in their arteries.

Atherosclerotic plaque is comprised of cholesterol, bacteria and calcium which adheres to the inner lining of arteries.

Approximately 81 percent of participants had taken birth control pills for at least a year at some point in their lives, and 27 percent were currently taking the contraceptives.

However, the secular media remained virtually silent on this study. It would seem that whether the story is about a woman who almost died from a side effect of the pill or a group of 1,300 women who participated in a clinical study, the majority of America’s secular media is reticent when it comes to publicizing negative findings about the use of birth control chemicals.

Tragically, this type of self-censorship results in physical harm to women, and as we have repeatedly explained, the deaths of literally millions of preborn children whose lives are snuffed out prior to implantation, due to the pill’s abortifacient effects.

When Dr. Joel Brind presented his findings on how the steroidal compound found in the birth control pill contributes to an increased risk of liver cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer, his documented evidence was not publicized. In fact, dead silence ensued. Even though the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (headed by Brind) has made his research available online, we have not seen him interviewed anywhere – including the Dr. Oz portion of the Oprah Winfrey Show. I wonder why?

Brind writes, “The dangerous performance enhancing steroids taken by athletes are male steroid hormonal drugs that build muscle. One of their risks is liver cancer. Similarly, female steroid hormonal drugs build breast tissue. They not only increase the risk of liver cancer but breast and cervical cancers as well. These powerful steroid drugs are taken by millions of teenage girls as birth control pills.”

Two days ago, Jill Stanek reported on her blog that the World Health Organization has defined the pill as a Group I carcinogen:

The reasoning behind a combination of estrogen and progesterone/progestin is that estrogen given on its own increases the risk of uterine cancer. Taking a combination of the 2 confers protection from uterine cancer but increases breast cancer risk.

In short, the science behind the increased breast cancer risk stems from 2 primary mechanisms. In both instances, progesterone/progestin becomes a double-edged sword, as it confers protection from increased uterine cancer risk but "gives permission" for estrogen to negatively affect breast DNA.

Brind, Stanek, Belgian researchers and near-death experiences are all valid reasons for the media to get on the ball and report the facts. In view of the fact that a growing number of teenage girls is being exposed to these chemicals (due to the acquiescence of many parents, who prefer the pill to teaching chastity), doesn’t the medical profession have an obligation to be honest? Doesn’t the government have a responsibility to protect citizens from dangerous chemicals that can result in death? Don’t reporters have a duty to honestly report the facts? But that is hardly what occurs.

Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, recently opined,

The only reason we have our elderly being set up for systematic extermination now is because our culture has been so deeply brainwashed by the contraceptive and abortive mentalities that come from decades of “family planning” propaganda. The devaluation of human life at one end of the spectrum leaves the other end of the life spectrum completely vulnerable to the depredations of the power-mongers in Washington. Albert Schweitzer said that “if a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.” In terms of the current healthcare debate that would mean: when you sow family planning, you reap death planning. It's that simple.

I think he’s on to something; in fact, I know he is. The truth is that sexually saturated societies do not heed warnings or, for that matter, even provide them. And after more than 40 years of contraceptive overload, two generations have accepted contraception, chosen to practice contraception and have a tough time telling their own children to say no to sexual relations, regardless of the child’s age or marital status.

The birth control pill and its progeny are sacred to the proponents of the culture of death. They have become a mainstay of American life. But as Father Denis O’Brien, MM, American Life League’s spiritual director for many years, said in 1994,

Parents are the ones charged solemnly to raise their children in accordance with the eternal law, and will answer to God. To what lengths would parents go to save their child's life? To what lengths should they go to save their children's soul?

They may not wash their hands with the excuse "Well, the school board says…" or “The doctors say…” or “The teacher says…” That's what Pilate did, wash his hands.

So as we once again contemplate the fallout from the pill, and regardless of our profession or state in life, we should seriously consider these wise words from the pen of Pope John Paul II: "If the object of the concrete action is not in harmony with the true good of the person, the choice of that action makes our will and ourselves morally evil, thus putting us in conflict with our ultimate end, the supreme good, God himself" (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, Section 72).

Pillering women has devastating consequences. The only way to avoid them is to understand them. Share these facts with those you care about. Spread the word, spread the truth!